|
Decisions again,What You'll Need
|
| |
I am going to cover what I had to purchase using a Mr Goodwrench 350 long block, allthough
they would not be my first choice, "remanufactured"engines available from local parts stores will be
similar.
When choosing parts I went with what I knew,have used in the past, and have had success with. I used my own brand
preferences within my budget, There are many ways to go, what you buy is up to you. Please keep this in mind when
reading this, what I used worked for me. |
| |
|
What's wrong with this picture?
|
| The GM 350 is fairly complete tho there were some ugly surprises. If you have a donor
engine around it would be your best bet for some of the essential parts that don't really need to be new. Most
of my vans ( and cars) have been GM over the years and I do all my own work and maintenance when possible.After
I installed my 350 the very first thing I did of course, was to prepare it for its first startup. Having had so
many GM products I rarely look to see the oil filter so imagine my surprise when I tried to thread on a new oil
filter by feel and found it wouldn't thread on. A trouble light revealed the reason, GM does not provide the threaded
fitting that holds the oil filter on, the dealer I bought the engine from explained they assume you will use the
part off the old engine, hardly possible when the old engine is a 4.3 V-6! The replacement part was around 40 bucks,
but that wasn't my only revisit to the dealer. |
|
But it's just a tube and a stick.
|
Even though the Astro oil dipstick tube and indicator will fit, the new engine and mounts
moves their location just enough( in my opinion) that you are courting burns reaching in to check the oil when
the engine is hot so I decided to use a full size van tube and indicator,unfortunately , as is the case with many
dealer parts ,they must have a primer coat of platinum, the only reason I could see for the price I paid.
80 bucks for the tube, 30 for the indicator.It
is now much easier to check the oil, but,again, if you have a donor engine steal the parts from it. The factory
replacement 350 has either a passenger or drivers side installation location, either side you pick it's a real
treat avoiding the headers , finding the hole in the block, and pushing the tube down to it's limit . |
|
Cooling Related Issues
|
|
Radiator
|
| Supposedly the stock Astro radiator will cool the additional load the V-8 adds but I
suspect it depends on what radiator your Astro has as I have friends that had no problems with overheating, and
some, like myself, that have. Astros commonly came with a 2 row radiator allthough some were delivered with the
more effiicent, though less common, 4 row.Mine has the stock 2 row radiator,I added an auxiilary electric cooling
fan to the front of my a/c condensor, the radiator and condensor have no clearance between them to install the
fan in front of the radiator as I would have preferred. . I will be exploring a twin fan setup in the future as
I would love to eliminate my steel fan and fan shroud alltogether.Which brings us to the shroud. |
|
Radiator Shroud
|
If you keep your steel factory cooling fan instead of going all electric the stock Astro
2 piece fan shroud will need to be replaced or modified as the fan hits it due to the new engine placement.
Supposedy,you can trim your shroud to fit but even after quite a bit of trimming mine still hit, at least on the
upper portion , what I had left was hardly a shroud anymore so I discarded the top half alltogether and purchased
separate upper radiator hold downs which you will need as you will lose the factory ones when you ditch the factory
upper shroud. I kept and trimmed the lower shroud, added an aftermarket upper shroud which attached nicely to the
Astro bottom half. |
|
Water Pump and Thermostat
|
|
Water Pump
|
|
You'll need a water pump.As covered previously, if you use individual
belts go with the year application of the engine ,and make damn sure it's a clockwise
rotation pump.I used 84 G-20 V-8 for parts that had to match the engine,
using that application gave me correct parts for everything but the water pump as I used the serpentine setup.
If you used the serpentime setup use a 90's year application so you
get a counterclockwise rotation water
pump. I used 94 G-20 V-8 to obtain the right pump allthough a Astro V-6 pump
will fit.
|
|
Thermostat
|
| The 350 does not ship with a upper radiator hose neck/thermostat housing. I purchased
mine at Autozone, they are available alsmost anywhere.The stock thermostat is a 195 degree unit, available in two
levels of quality. I recommend going top shelf, the better thermostat will lock OPEN if it fails, the extra couple
of bucks is well spent if it prevents toasting your engine. |
|
Distributor, Wires, and Plugs
|
You need spark, there are many ways of getting it, but being as I was going for old
school simplicity ( but not too old
school, no way I was going back to points, there are limits)
I went with a Mallory HEI distributor. It was new, not remanufactured, and came complete with in cap coil, rotor
and cap.
Keep in mind the wires are going to be close to the headers, buy Hi Temperature wires, I used Accel Superstocks,
in addition,I used heat shield on the plug boots as even with the premium wires it seemed safer. |
|
Spark Plugs
|
| What you use is up to you,I've had good luck with Bosch Platinums, Split fires and the
other pricey plugs have worked well for me in the past with worn engines, they do burn off fouled oil and fuel
better but I feel with a new engine they would be a waste of money. Again, this is a matter of preference, if you
go with a mid 90's HEI 350 application you'll see more choices. |
|
Fuel, Ya Need Fuel and Air
|
|
Carb and Intake
Again, I went simple, and not being on a huge budget went with the best I could get
within my means.There are many choices in Carbs and Intakes, I went with an Edelbrock 650 Performer Carb with electric
choke,a good match for the 350. I was a Holley fan for years but found they are prone to leak, the Edelbrock Performer
I chose is also mostly servicable without removing the entire unit from the intake.I used a matching Edelbrock
Performer Intake manifold and Felpro premium intake gaskets
|
|
Fuel Pump-Electric or Mechanical ?
|
There are two ways to go here, use the stock Astro in tank electric fuel pump, in which
case you must reduce the high pressure
the electric puts out to usable levels the carb can handle.
Or install a mechanical pump on the engine, no need to reduce the pressure, and my preferred method. I was told
you could use the original lines and just draw through the electric pump after yanking it's fuse but being as the
only advice I had on this was from one of the same sources that cost me so much in delays and $$$ due to bad advice
I went the other way.
I used the original electric in tank pump pushing through a Mallory pressure reducer with return, that way I could
keep all the original fuel lines in place without capping or removing any, in addition, you will need, as I did,
to cap the hole on the block where the mechanical pump would have gone, most parts stores carry the fuel pump block off plate and gasket. An inline fuel
filter is a good idea, the framerail mounted inline filter under the van is okay for gross impurities in the fuel
but I prefer to have the extra coverage. I used a Russell Clear Flow Plus Fuel
Filter, you can see the fuel (
handy if you are troubleshooting) and the filter element is replaceable. |
|
Throttle Cable
|
The Astro throttle cables came in many versions depending on fuel delivery type,carbed
or injected, some pulled from the front, some pulled from the rear, most were too short or had such an odd fitting
on the end they are incompatible with most carb setups.
Again, I had to wing it here, my cable was too short,it pulled from the wrong direction, had an unusable fitting
on the end and the pedal end looked just weird enough I decided to change it also rather then have to do post engineering
later to make a cable fit. I decided
to replace pedal to carb, cable and all. ( Mistake)
The Mr Gasket pedal and cable setup I bought was expensive and in my opinion, a spindly piece of crap. I got the
impression they spent all their time and engineering making the billet pedal itself look good but the mechanics of the pedal and the cable were shoddy, the cable was too thin and
the end fitting slipped down the cable no matter how much it was tightened. The pedal itself had a shaky feel to
it and tended to stick partway through its travel ( Yeah, a sticking gas pedal, just what I needed) |
|
Problem Solved
|
| I sh^t-canned the Mr Gasket pedal idea and ended up making up my own setup. I used a
Lokar Throttle cable, ran it through the firewall using the original cable hole and made the end fit the stock
factory pedal hole using a clevis pin and clip. It's solid, it pulls nice, and it was so easy ( in hindsight) I
will be kicking myself for months for not thinking of it sooner. Return spring for the carb was a no brainer, Help
section of my local parts store, the TV cable bracket I had purchased for the TCI tranny puter was a perfect match
for the cable. |
|
Torque Convertor
|
|
Being as I am still in the final stages of doing my Astro V 8 I have
not upgraded the Astro convertor yet. ( Plus, to be honest I am out of money) It will need to be replaced as the
stock V-6 torque convertor has too low a stall speed for the V-8. In addiiton, when using the 4l60/80e 4 speed
you must use a lockup convertor . I
will update this topic next month after I choose and install a new convertor
|
|
Harmonic Balancer and Flexplate
|
|
|
Harmonic Balancer
You'll need a harmonic balancer, the GM engine did not come with one, I bought mine
from Jegs but they are commonly available almost anywhere. Your choices are 6 3/4" and 8". You can use
either,being as room was at a premium under the hood I used the smaller of the two.
|
|
Flex Plate
|
The GM engine does not come with a flex plate ( sometimes know as a ring gear,alltho
the ring gear is actually the teeth that engage the starter on the outside of the flexplate, flexplates are sometimes referred to incorrectly as a flywheel.)
I bought mine from Jegs, when purchasing yours make sure you match it with the starter you plan on using , flexplates
come in 2 standard tooth configurations that will readily fit the 350.The old style starters that had two bolt
holes side by side commonly used 153 tooth flexplates. The newer style ( As used in the Astro and full size late
model Chevies) 2 bolt offset patterns require the larger 168 tooth flexplate.
Important Note: Assure that your new flexplate has the proper holes for your
torque convertor, some flex plates will not accept the lockout torque convertor. My block and most GM blocks are
drilled and threaded for both starter bolt patterns ,offset and inline, I used a newer style 168 tooth flexplate. |
|
Starters
|
The Astro starter will fit on the 350 but my attempt ( just out of curiosity) to use
my old one was a failure.No biggie as I had no intention of using a used starter anyhow. In fact, it took 3 new
starters and various shim combinations to get a starter that would not either bind in the ring gear or spin futilely
without engaging.. Unfortunately,rebuilders use the same cases over and over again and every time a core is processed
it loses metal due to cleaning and machining making excess shimming neccesary and time consuming. Save some time
and buy a new, not remanufactured, Delco starter and avoid a lot of grief in the long run. I recommend buying new
bolts, also, and never , ever use regular bolts
even if they appear to be the right thread and length. GM starter bolts have a wide shoulder on the top under the
head of the bolt that aligns and stabilizes the starter, failure to use the proper bolts will alow the starter
to skew sideways.
Another alternative I have not explored
is the new, high-torque "mini starters". I have no experience with these allthough I do plan on trying
that option in the future. |
|
Next: It's The Little Things
|